


Twists in Time

by ArwenUndomiel



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-08
Updated: 2012-08-08
Packaged: 2017-11-11 16:33:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/480566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArwenUndomiel/pseuds/ArwenUndomiel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>By an accidental twist of fate, Teddy Lupin ends up in 1997, found by none other than a currently abandoned Nymphadora Lupin. They help each other through their grief...and learn things about themselves in the process. Implied canon pairings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Twists in Time

Taking a deep breath, Teddy Lupin took a step out of the Potter household, only vaguely looking back to the three children who were probably plotting a prank of some sort against their cousins, who they would be visiting the next day. Harry and Ginny were both out at some Ministry function, and Teddy had opted to stay home and watch over James, Albus, and the youngest, Lily. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Teddy sighed as he felt the cool air breeze through his hair that constantly fell into his eyes, despite the many complaints his grandmother had always vocalised. "Are you out there?" he murmured, not expecting any answer. "It's almost twenty years to the day, Mum, Dad...when you gave your lives for me. So I could live in a peaceful world." He shivered a little, whether from the cold or his words, he didn't know. "And I just wanted you to know that you didn't die in vain. There is peace. And..." Teddy swallowed. "And..." He shook his head. To say that there would always be peace could be an outright lie. "Never mind."

Looking up at the moon, he felt a sudden apprehension. He had never seen a werewolf transform, never having known one. But to know that every month, his father had undergone a transformation as painful as he had heard...from Harry, Kingsley, and his Defence Against the Dark Arts class in his third year...Teddy didn't know what to think. He didn't hate them, as many people had hinted towards. Was he meant to hate a certain person, or a certain group of people, because of an affliction that they couldn't control? Maybe. He certainly wanted Fenrir Greyback dead, and sometimes that anger, knowing how much pain it had caused his father, was hard for him to control. His teacher had hated  _him_  because he was half a werewolf. He ran his fingers through his hair, and taking a glance at a few strands, he realized that it had turned to his natural light brown colour. And in that moment, Teddy realized his parents were always with him. How many times had he tried to change his appearance to look like Harry, or one of the Weasleys? How many times had he just tried to look like a different person entirely? And why? Because it was simply easier than admitting to himself that his family, his  _real_  family was gone.

A cool breeze blew past him, and Teddy shivered, feeling the hair on the back of his neck stand up. His eyes were wide as a light on the far side of the garden began to shine, so bright that it was blinding. But if this light was any threat...any threat at all to his family...the family he'd now just accepted...he would stand and defend. After all, that was his job now. He couldn't hide; he couldn't be a coward any longer. He'd lived through that long enough...with that on his conscience. He stepped further, and the light swallowed him, dumping him onto the front lawn of a very familiar-looking home. Somehow...by some miraculous...well... _light_...he had been brought to his grandmother's home. But...it looked... _different_...somehow.

Always a light sleeper, Dora Lu...  _no, don't think your last name...you remember what happened the last time you thought your last name..._

Anyway, a pale young woman with mousey-brown hair was pulled out of her light slumber by the sound of something hitting the ground outside with a thump. Swinging herself out of bed, she shoved her feet into slippers and pulled her arms through a dressing gown. One hand cradling her distended abdomen protectively, she carefully navigated the stairs down to the front door. Wand drawn, she peered out of the wavy glass, trying to make out the shapes of the front yard.

At first, everything appeared normal, but then she caught sight of the long shape lying prone on the grass. Her first thought, one that caused overwhelming joy to flash through her was dashed as she managed to get a clearer look at the man, for she could see it was a man now, thanks to the full moon that had just come out from behind the cloud. How could she even have thought it was  _him_  at first? She'd known it was a full moon...and the shape, even when she couldn't see it clearly, was definitely not a...wolf.

Clutching her wand tighter in her hand, whoever it was had managed to get past wards set up by the best Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor that Hogwarts had had in years, and several trained Aurors, one of whom had been Mad-Eye Moody. The thought of her mentor causes sorrow to well up in her once more before she pushed it aside. "Constant vigilance," she murmured, just to hear the sound of her own voice, and a fond smile crept across her features.

Shaking off her mood, she carefully swung the door open, so that it wouldn't creak and navigated the front steps. She levelled her wand at the man lying in the grass. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" Her voice was cold and authoritative despite how extremely unthreatening she appeared. After all, who would be scared of a pregnant woman in a dressing gown? This man would be if he had any sense.

Teddy rolled over, groaning lightly as he heard a cold voice. Though he'd hit his head rather hard, he could tell the voice belonged to a woman. It was strangely familiar...but...no, how could it? No...his grandmother was dead...no one lived at the Tonks estate anymore. Not since...not since he'd left, and Andromeda had died.

He hissed as he pressed a hand to his ribs...one of them was certainly cracked. But then, he wasn't a bloody Healer...no, in the name of Merlin, he was an Auror. Just fully qualified, and he had his badge in his pocket to prove it - provided, of course, it hadn't fallen out.

He opened his left eye just a crack, and was stunned, shocked, with what he saw. No...this was impossible...and...slightly...creepy? Whoa. Teddy blinked as he turned to stare at the woman towering above him with his crystal blue eyes...crystal blue eyes that were shockingly like hers.

"Mum..." he breathed, his voice hitching. He felt his eyes fill with tears, but morphed away even the inkling that the feeling existed...this was wartime. He couldn't just...burst into  _tears_. No, it was wrong...this was all wrong...Teddy wasn't even supposed to be here, he was supposed to be back in his own time, watching over his god-family. Not travelling back into the past, with no way to get back to his own time...and besides...his parents...they wouldn't even believe who he was...and that pain would hurt far too much.

Teddy swallowed to calm his steadily beating heart as he slowly sat up, his eyes widening even further as he stood level with his mother. His very alive, very serious...very _pregnant_...mother. He gulped. "If I told you...you wouldn't believe me," he responded, and was almost stunned at how alike his voice sounded to his father's...or at least, the voice of the Remus Lupin he knew from Harry's Pensieve. "As for w-what...I...I d-don't know..."

She stumbled back a pace as the young man spoke. No... No, no, no... If this was a Death Eater trick... couldn't they just kill her first and not torment her like this? They had to know he was gone... Instinctively, her hands covered the child in her womb, protecting him…she didn't know for sure, but she felt that it was a boy. "Wh-who..." Her voice shook and she struggled to keep a grip on her emotions. "Who are you?" she repeated.

"I..." Teddy swallowed as his eyes followed her hands, the hands that went to cover her only slightly protruding abdomen. That was him, in there. But...he'd be labelled as crazy! He couldn't say that, could he? No...absolutely not...but...if he didn't reveal himself...she would label him as a  _Death Eater_...and...well...he couldn't prove that he _wasn't_  sympathetic to Voldemort, could he? Not without revealing his true identity. "You wouldn't believe me... _Mum_." His voice was steady, but it held a hint of quavering. He was scared, no matter how old he looked, and that much was obvious.

Dora flinched and her arms crossed even tighter over the child in her womb. "You're insane." Her voice was flat, emotionless. Who was he? He had to be only a couple of years younger than she was herself! "You're a lunatic." She repeated her sentiments and wondered briefly if she should Stun him, before she realised that she'd dropped her wand when he'd spoken the first time. Shit. Here she was, unarmed, in her pyjamas and alone with a lunatic. She was screwed.

Teddy bit his lip, searching for any way to prove himself. He looked at her, with innocence plain in his eyes, the natural blue that was identical to hers...but then it hit him. She'd dropped her wand, hadn't she? He bent down slightly, and picked it up, turning it over and handing it to her. "It seems...I've given you quite a turn," he said softly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. And..." Well, he couldn't refute her comment, could he? Certainly, he seemed insane. "I'm..." He offered her a hand to shake. "Look, just give me a chance to prove myself..."

She had automatically started to inch backwards when he had picked up her wand, doing her best to put as much space between them as she could. When he handed it back to her, she almost dropped it again in shock. What Death Eater would give a fully qualified Auror their wand back? Maybe he  _was_  actually legitimately crazy! But...those eyes...her eyes in  _his_  face...and his voice...maybe...maybe she could give it a chance? Let him explain himself...

Some part of her, some small part deep down, trusted this young man with his eyes so like hers and  _his_  voice. So, in a move that Mad-Eye would have cursed her ten ways til Sunday for, she lowered her wand again. "Alright. You have five minutes."

She didn't take his offered hand, but that didn't matter. Teddy's heart was pounding in his chest. Five minutes. Fantastic. He was terrible with time constraints. "I...My name's Ted," he said hesitantly, still unwaveringly scanning her face with those eyes...wait, they weren't blue anymore...they were a familiar... _quite_  a familiar amber colour... "Ted Lupin. I was...er...well, babysitting," he admitted shamefully. "There was this strange...light...thing...and I followed it. I crashed headfirst into the property. I guess you heard the commotion...and...well, you found me." He was silent for another moment and a half, his eyes fading back to their natural blue colour. "I know it sounds hard to believe. But if you won't believe who I am, just know that I mean you no harm. That would be bringing harm upon myself."

Her eyes, which hadn't missed the changing of his...she was the only Metamorphamagus in this century in Britain she knew...she'd seen the register...widen, in shock and, disbelief? But...it did make sense...how else would another Metamorphamagus be here? Her eyes flicked from his face to the small bulge pushing the front of her pyjama shirt out. It couldn't be...could it? Shock, disbelief, dawning hope, consternation, more hope... they all flickered across her face, almost too fast to follow. It had been a fear in the back of her mind, ever since "dear Auntie Bella" had tried so hard to kill her the night they'd gotten Harry away, that she would come after her child, before or after it was born, and kill him to cause her pain. Her eyes scanned his features, seeing the perfect blend of her and Remus...it really was obvious, but it was just so...so...surprising...to suddenly have your grown-up son lying in your front yard that...

Who was she kidding? It wasn't like they were Muggles and time travel was something simply out of a story...

Teddy was silent as she watched him. If he put even one toe out of line, she'd stop trusting him...she'd cut him down with a single curse. Hadn't she been trained by Alastor Moody, the Auror legend? You could never be too careful.

He spotted slight disbelief in her eyes, and well...who could blame her, really...but what made him smile was the hope he seemed to give her. She'd probably been terrified for his life...for  _their_  lives...

Oh, crap.

That was a whole other problem. How long would it be until she discovered that he was more a Potter and a Weasley than he really was a Lupin? That he'd been raised by a family who wasn't his, because both of his parents had died in a battle that was now commemorated on his girlfriend's birthday? That wouldn't be good at all, would it? He would just take away that hope. "I'm s-sorry," he said again. Merlin's beard. It seemed like that was all he could actually say!

Dora blinked. Once. Twice. And again. Sorry...why was he sorry? "Why are you sorry?" The question slipped out almost unconsciously. She didn't understand.

"I scared you," said Teddy, still scanning his mother's doubtful face, "Didn't I? You thought...t-thought I was a t-threat...I'm sorry." He shrugged lamely. "I didn't mean to come here..."

The maternal instincts she didn't know she had yet kicked in, and she moved toward him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "Hey... shhh..." No matter what form he was in, he was her son and...and that was all that mattered.

Teddy only realised then that he'd been shivering, and tears that he couldn't control came pouring from his eyes. Never, in his memory, had he felt a hug this much. Never had it mattered so much. Because it was his mum. And she knew it, and he knew it. That was simply it, and he would do anything to have this moment forever. He would gladly give up everything...everything to have his mum forever...

She felt something was wrong, but...here was her baby...her baby boy...and he was upset. She sniffed back her own tears to comfort the boy...well, he was a young man, but...he was her boy. Soothingly she rubbed his back, trying to calm him down, murmuring calming nonsense.

He enfolded himself further into her arms, soaking up the warmth and the comfort that she gave him. He didn't care that he was almost twenty years old, he didn't care that he was nearly set on the road to get married. None of it mattered.

Eventually - it could've been after  _hours_ \- Teddy broke away from his mother, wiping tears from his eyes. He offered her a shy smile. "D-do you believe me now?" he asked, his lower lip trembling slightly.

Dora dropped a kiss to the top of his head. "Yes...I do...I don't know why...but...but I do." She hugged him tighter and gently wiped his tears away with her thumb. "It's alright honey... it's okay," she soothed.

"Thank you," he whispered hoarsely. "But..." He looked at her hopelessly, walking up the path and collapsing on the steps that led up to the Tonks home. "I don't know how to get back...I don't know how..."

Dora settled herself next to him carefully and wrapped her arm around his shoulders, gently rocking him from side to side. "Shhh sweetie, shhhh. We'll figure something out... It'll be okay..."

"You're a brilliant mum, you know," he said, sniffing again and wiping tears from his eyes. But the eyes were kind, and...was that a bit of mischievousness in there? "You always know what to say..." Of course, he'd meant in that moment, but...but...oh, shit. Well, whatever...he'd deal with that whenever it happened...whenever the obstacle came...

"Am I?" Her eyes lit up, another of her fears dashed. She'd been so afraid that she'd drop him or she wouldn't be good enough... Absently, she pressed another kiss to his head and smiled at him delightedly before realising something. "This must be at least twice as weird for you as it is for me..."

"They say I look like you...and Dad...perfectly," he said carefully. "I guess I never really noticed it before, but...it really is true." He rubbed his hands for warmth, wind blowing through his hair as he shivered again. "It's a bit...I dunno," he said with a slight smile. "Weird isn't the word I'd use, but...it is a bit... _odd_. I certainly wasn't expecting a time travel experience when I'd agreed to babysit." He chuckled, raising a furtive eyebrow at his mother.

Dora chuckled and took note of his actions. "Cold?" She just noticed the temperature herself and shivered. "We should go in..." She paused. "Dear Merlin, what's Mum going to think?" Her face paled but she figured she'd deal with it in the morning. Standing up, she offered him her hand to help him to his feet.

"I could morph into...someone else?" he offered hesitantly, taking her hand. Anything to feel her skin against his...to prove that she was real, to prove that she existed... "I mean...if you want..."

"Nah, I'll just tell her in the morning... or let her find out for herself..." She allowed herself an evil grin at the thought, before opening the door and ushering him inside. Gently shutting the door behind her, she thought to herself that for once, things were looking up.

He grinned back, and pulled off his jacket as he was enfolded in the warmth of the living room. His t-shirt was embossed with the seal of Puddlemere United, with the tag "seeker" running down the arm. Once again, he didn't think about the consequences it would have on his mother...in the past.

Dora gasped and clapped both hands over her mouth in shock and pride. "You... got... you..." She reached out and traced the emblazoned letters with a shaking finger.

Teddy turned rather pink, his hair turning a reddish-colour. "Oh...well..." He chuckled embarrassedly. "Yeah...seeker for Puddlemere...that's me."

Pink started to creep through her hair, happiness overflowing her being. "Wow." She wondered where he'd gotten the flying skills... Remus certainly hadn't been interesting in flying and she... well... she'd been so clumsy on the ground that her parents were never going to let her anywhere  _near_  a broomstick...

He shook his head, and his hair turned back to its normal brown. He grinned at her. "Harry taught me," he offered as an explanation. "I wanted to play chaser, but...I never was good with the Quaffle. I was pushed into the spotlight as a seeker." Teddy shrugged. "I'm grateful to him, though," he admitted. "For everything. It's because of Harry that I'm able to play and attend the Academy at the same time."

Once again, Theodore Lupin had spoken without thinking.

But Dora had been thinking, the flash of pain mixed with unspeakable joy that had flashed through his eyes when he'd first looked at her, when she'd had no clue who he was...if the boy had grown up with her...seeing her now wouldn't have caused such a reaction. "We're dead aren't we? In your future...or at least...I am..." She honestly had no idea what  _he_  was up to...maybe  _he_  never came back and he lived...maybe  _he_  did and  _he_  stayed with Teddy when she went off to fight...maybe...maybe...maybe...

"I..." Teddy's heart plummeted as he heard her words. He hesitated. "Mum, I...I don't..." He collapsed on the sofa, head in his hands. "I can't say...I..." But the look he gave her was enough. Maybe he couldn't  _tell_  her, but it was obvious enough that he had never known her. He had never known his real family.

All she could think of was to wrap her arms around her son and hold him tight. "I'm so sorry sweetheart... I'm so, so sorry..." She choked back a sob and ran her fingers through his hair. She would never get to see her baby grow up...but...what if...?

"It isn't your fault," he murmured, feeling almost like he was comforting her more than she was him. "You had to fight...for the Order, for Harry..." He broke away from the hug and looked at her, honesty finally evident in his eyes. "Harry said...that...Dad had told him...that one day I would understand. I...I didn't think I ever would. But...I think...now I do." He nodded silently. "I know what it feels like to have a duty...to feel the need to protect someone. That was how you felt. And...Mum, I think I finally understand." A few tears had leaked from his eyes, but that didn't matter anymore. He knew, finally, what Remus had meant.

Her smile, when it came, was wry and a little pained. "And of course, your father is always bloody right." Her tone of voice was sarcastic, and she had hunched forward as if shielding herself from a blow. "Bloody noble prat of a man..." She muttered under her breath.

"He's gone," stated Teddy, though it turned into a question. "Isn't he?" He chewed on his lip. Should he tell more than he already had?

"Yes, he left," she replied shortly. She'd really rather not think about it…ever. "And I don't think he's coming back." Tears filled her eyes, again, and she sniffed, running the cuff of her dressing gown under her nose. "Stupid. Ruddy. Noble. Prat!" She punctuated each word with a half-hearted thwack to the wall.

"He'll be back," said Teddy, his voice quiet as he turned to fix his mother with an intense gaze, a gaze that only a Lupin could pull off. "And quite soon, I think." He shrugged. "There's a lot I don't know about you...but I've always admired your passion. Both of you, I mean. You know what you want, and you go for it. Yeah?" He gripped her shoulder and leaned over, wiping tears from her eyes. "He'll be  _back_."

She took in a deep breath in and let it out on a sigh. "I hope you're right..." She allowed herself to be comforted for a moment before she laughed softly. "You're a good kid Teddy-bear..." The nickname, she wasn't sure where it had come from, slipped out...but it fit...and she smiled at him softly. "We should get some sleep...I'm sure you're tired and the baby...well...you, I mean...seems to enjoy to kicking me in the ribs." She grinned. "Maybe I should get you back for that, eh?"

He smiled briefly at the nickname...that had always been the one name he somehow couldn't get mad at his grandmother for calling him...almost like it had more meaning to the both of them. He wasn't sure, he'd never been sure...but in the month their lives had overlapped...had that been the name his mother had used for him.

Teddy winced. "I'm sorry," he said, though restraining a laugh. Dora Lupin was exactly as he'd always invisioned her to be. "Please don't."

She grinned and patted his back. "Don't worry dear...I won't...or at least, not yet." She chuckled softly, letting him know that she didn't actually mean it. "Sleep time." She clapped her hands and then paused as a thought hit her. "Unless...would you like a warm drink first?"

It only occurred to Teddy then how cold he actually was. "Yeah," he said slowly, gratefully. "A warm drink would be absolutely  _fantastic_..."

Her grin widened. "Hot chocolate?" she offers, a little hesitantly. She knew that  _he_  always liked hot chocolate before bed but...what if Teddy didn't like chocolate?

Teddy's hesitant smile grew, and he nodded, as if he were barely ten years old. "Yeah," he said again. "Hot chocolate would be  _divine_..."

He watched her carefully. There was something behind the fond way she spoke of chocolate. But what was it?

She set about making it, unconsciously grabbing a third cup, humming to herself. Instead of attempting to heat them with her wand - she never knew if she might blow something up one day - she carefully set them into the microwave her father had insisted her mother get installed and hit the correct time. It beeped and she handed one mug to Teddy, kept the other for herself and called out softly "Remus... hot cho..." Before her words finished, she choked off as crushing pain swept through her. He wasn't here...he'd left...he'd left her with a baby on the way, he'd left when he'd sworn to her he'd never leave her again...that's what they'd said in their wedding vows...

Her mug fell from numb fingers and smashed onto the ground, but she didn't even notice, too consumed by the pain piercing her heart to see anything around her.

Teddy instantly leaped from his seat, his own hot chocolate forgotten. "Mum!" he cried, alarmed. But then he saw the mug on the ground, and the pained look on her face...and he hadn't missed her soft words, either. He was suddenly filled with a burning hate for his father...but in the next second, it was gone. He couldn't hate his father. And besides...he changed. He came back. It'd only be a matter of time, now...with any luck, Harry had already talked him round...

He wrapped an arm around her back, pulling her into a chair. "Look, Mum, you've got to relax..." he said soothingly, silently waving his wand to repair the broken mug.

Teddy's touch and his soothing words eventually penetrated the fog clouding her mind and she let out a wounded gasp. Merlin, why did it hurt so damn much? Of course...she knew why. The bastard still had her heart, of course he did, and he'd ripped it out when he'd walked away. Oh, there were the "but Harry needs me, you'll be safer with your parents Dora" lines he'd tried to feed her and, if not for the way he even refused to look at the place where their child was growing, his tone, so reasonable, might have persuaded her that he was telling the truth. "Why?" Instead of coming out clear and strong as she'd wanted it to, it slipped out on a whimper and she sounded like a scared little girl, not a married woman, soon to be a mother. "Why did he leave?"

"He..." Teddy bit his lip as he took a seat next to her, still gripping her hand tightly for comfort. He sighed heavily. "He was scared, Mum. He thought I would be like him. And...he couldn't bear to have passed on a curse like his. He thought I would be better off without a father than to live with one of which I would always be ashamed." He'd recited the words almost verbatim, but somehow they sounded fake. Almost like excuses.

She snorted softly. "Oh, that's rich." Her tone, which she'd hoped would be sarcastic, ended up being defeated. "Didn't the idiot know anything about his 'furry little problem'? The only way someone can become a fully-fledged werewolf is by receiving a bite from one in their transformed state which only happens once a month on a full moon." Her words were flat, as if reciting a lesson, or something she'd read many, many times.

"But he was  _scared_ , Mum," said Teddy, his voice quiet. "He was scared for Harry, he was scared for us...he was scared for everyone. Scared for everyone but himself."

She sighed heavily, resting her head on her drawn up knees. "Tell me he comes back? Please Teddy...tell me he comes home and soon...I can't...I need him."

"He comes back, Mum," Teddy promised. "He comes back, and soon. He'll be here before you know it." He grinned. A thought had finally come to him. "Look...let's get you in bed...and I'll sing something for you..."

Laughing - well, trying to laugh – (it came out more of a choked sob) at being treated like a child by her own son, she did as he said. Getting up, she brushed the tears away with the cuff of her dressing gown and placed the mugs into the sink to wash up later. She started to head up the stairs to her childhood bedroom...they'd been given the guest bedroom when they'd moved in, but she'd moved back to her old room when he'd left...it was...comforting to be surrounded by things from her childhood even if it was sadly out-dated. It hadn't been changed since she'd left for Hogwarts at age eleven.

Teddy found it awfully strange to be led up the staircase that he'd come down from nearly every morning...and with another jolt, he realised that the bedroom he was in, was the one he'd occupied for seventeen years. And...in all that time...Andromeda had never told him...that it had once belonged to his mother. He smiled briefly as he took a seat in the chair a ways away from her bed, waiting for instructions.

She managed a small smile. "You know..." she started as she kicked off her slippers and hung the dressing gown over the end of the bed. "It's a little odd...being treated like a child by your own son..." Her lips turned down and one hand stroked the bulge of her abdomen with a sigh before she slipped into her bed, nestling onto her side or trying to, at least. With an irritated sigh, she rolled over on to her back. "I hate sleeping on my back," she mumbled, more to herself than to Teddy. "Anyway..." she said a little louder. "You're going to sing?"

"If you're not careful, you'll trip one of these days," he warned. The last thing he wanted was to end up...well...yeah. That was that. He was okay, so he figured she must've been, but...that whole clumsy thing wasn't good when you were carrying such precious cargo.

His face turned pink. "Well...yeah," he admitted. It was a song that he'd heard in a Muggle videotape once...supposedly, a song that his father had once sung. He hoped that she wouldn't be too disturbed. Teddy took a deep breath.

_"Dear Nymphadora...I'm sorry, but I'm leaving...it's what I feel I must do..."_

He looked briefly over at her, and then continued.

_"I'll be back, just as soon as I can, you know I'd never abandon you...Sure I'm scared, we all are, but I'm through running...look me in the eyes, I'm telling the truth..."_

He took a deep breath. This was harder for him than he'd thought it would be.

_"'Cause Harry needs all the help he can get, I feel like I'm all that's left...count down, I'll be home before you know it, count it backwards from ten...count down, I'll be home before you know it, count it backwards from ten..."_

His soft, soothing voice continued into the second verse, and he was close to tears, but knew he had to hold it back.

Tears welled up in Dora's own eyes, but she held them back. Why...why...Dear Merlin...that hurt... but... Teddy's voice was soothing and, despite the pain in her heart, it softly lulled her to sleep and she drifted off, tears still trickling from beneath her closed lids and carving glistening trails down her pale cheeks. Her breathing was deep and even, she'd meant to tell him he could sleep in the guest bedroom before she'd fallen asleep but...

Teddy had stopped his singing once he realised that she'd fallen asleep, and a pang of hurt hit his chest as he noticed the pearly-white tear crawling down her cheek. "I'm sorry, Mum," he whispered softly. "But he'll come back, I promise..." And soon, he'd fallen asleep in the chair, content, finally by his mother's side.

_Fin._

**Author's Note:**

> The song Teddy sang was "Home" by The Remus Lupins, a Wizard Wrock band. It's really good.
> 
> This story was co-written with Teddy R. Lupin on fanfic.net and is posted on his account there. I was Dora, he played Teddy.


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